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Hi! what's the last day you can wait to respond to a (rent stabilized) lease renewal form your landlord? If our current lease ends Sept 30 - are we still ok if we reply only a couple of days before that date? Does it have to be a lot more time in advance? We can't remember! In the past we always replied immediately as soon as we received it in the mail. Problem is we had just left NY when the renewal came in the mail (family told us it arrived) to visit family plus our wedding and now on our honeymoon and won't be back to NY until sept 24! Will it be too late then?

You must receive your lease renewal at least 90 days before it expires, from the landlord. That's the law.

You have 60 days from the "renewal offer." This would depend on the date the landlord gives on the legal lease paperwork. If you receive the renewal lease on October 15, it may still be dated back 90 days, so your 60 days would begin from that date. This is illegal, of course.

Hi I just edited my question to make it a little more clearer. We received it last month. It's always been that way and that's why we always replied immediately and usind certified mail to have proof. By the way, the date of the actual lease was always from before as you say, and ilegal I know, but since we always replied inmediately, it was like a month before it expire that we let the landlord know so we knew he couldn't do anything because it was plenty of time. The problem is now that we'll have to return it a week before our lease ends and that's what worries us. Are we still safe?

Wouldn't it be o'k if you just called the LL now tell them your intentions then as soon as you get back either Fed Ex it, Priority Mail it, or walk it into LL's office? If you're planning on staying no harm, no foul.

I know Saturday when you get back I'm sure the last thing you'll want to do is visit a Post Office so either first thing Monday morning or afternoon would suffice, or you could venture into Manhattan to the main Post Office to get this done (gotta love NYC for 24/7 Post Office) on Sunday. Your lease would get to the LL's office by Friday, September 30th. O'k.

I need to confirm what the law says, I guess, just to make sure we don't get in trouble. I know it reads something like you have 60 days to respond to the lease renewal. Our confusion is that we imagine that the 60 days would be the maximum time, obviously, but what would be the minimum? Even if you mail it in on the day before the due date, you are still safe right? Mailing it with a receipt of course for proof - landlord never sends it to us "at least 90 days" before it's due anyway.

Please confirm if it's from upto 60 days until the actual due date on the lease! Our minds are not in the right place at this moment! It's probably a dumb and obvious question but please confim for us...oh and it's a rent stabilized lease in NYC if it makes a difference or if there are different rules in that case. Before we always sent it in around 20-30 days before it was due and that was always enough time for the landlord to receive it, sign it, and mail it back to us before the new rent was due, and then we paid the new rent at the end of the month with the new amount. IF WE SEND IT IN ONLY A FEW DAYS BEFORE IT'S DUE, THAT WON'T LEAVE MUCH TIME FOR THE LANDLORD TO SIGN AND RETURN IT BACK TO US BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH AND BEFORE WE HAVE TO PAY THE NEW RENT! Would that still be OK? He must send us the rent bill with the new amount even though he hasn't "processed" the lease renewal?

Not sure what the law is(or if there is a law) but I would never,ever have let it go so long, especially with a stabilized apartment where landlords can use every trick available to get tenants out to increase the rent.

By letting it go down to the wire you might run the risk of the landlord saying " sorry,we never heard from you and we rented the apartment to someone else."

The answer by the way is probably contained within the fine print of your original lease.If there is a clause pertaining to this situation contained within the lease it is that clause which rules and nobody else's opinion really matters.It may be that there are no official rules on this and that only what it says in your lease matters.

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By letting it go down to the wire you might run the risk of the landlord saying " sorry,we never heard from you and we rented the apartment to someone else."

The answer by the way is probably contained within the fine print of your original lease.If there is a clause pertaining to this situation contained within the lease it is that clause which rules and nobody else's opinion really matters.It may be that there are no official rules on this and that only what it says in your lease matters.

Our lease is pretty generic and basic and only says the part about having to respond within 60 days (not sure of the number). 60 days from what day? Is that suppossed to mean upto the actual expiration date of your current lease right? Or counting from the day the "sent" it to us? That would be unfair since then they can put on the lease that they sent it a certain date and not actually give it to us until it's too late or past the actual date! He always sends it to us late anyhow and never "at least 90 days before"

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